The Sentencing Council is inviting bids to conduct a literature review bringing together the evidence on effectiveness of sentencing to support our statutory duty in this area.
Background
As part of our statutory duties, the Council is required to have regard to the cost of different sentences and their relative effectiveness in preventing reoffending when developing guidelines. Our duty in relation to this appears in two sections of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009: in section 120, where the Council must have regard to the cost of different sentences and their relative effectiveness in preventing reoffending; and in section 129, which covers promoting awareness of this. Our approach to this in recent years has been to produce an annual internal document outlining the latest research evidence in this area regarding reoffending.
The Council's commitment to this area of work has recently been restated in our publication: Sentencing Council strategic objectives 2021-2026, which sets out our priorities and actions for the next five years. As part of this, the Council has committed to publishing work in this area and has an overarching objective to consider and collate evidence on effectiveness of sentencing and seek to enhance the ways in which we raise awareness of the relevant issues'. To this end, we are commissioning this literature review to enable the Council to consider the most up-to-date evidence when developing and revising guidelines.
Timescales
We aim to start the work as soon as possible. It should be completed by the end of June 2022.
More information
Please see the specification of requirements for the work. Pre-tender questions can be submitted by 28 January to Emma Marshall.